


The Fifth Component

by rymyanna



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Action & Romance, Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, M/M, Post-Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-07-18 16:15:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16122179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rymyanna/pseuds/rymyanna
Summary: The Fifth Element AUThe androids are working towards equal rights when a new threat arises. Connor is built and activated to get the four parts needed to save both android and mankind. He accidentally saves Hank, too, who just wants to wallow in his misery. Hank ends up helping Connor accomplish his mission. True to the movie, they fall in love in a stupidly short amount of time.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I basically just picked and chose the plot elements I wanted to use from The Fifth Element and imported them into the DBH universe. It's my first work in the fandom so I'm a bit nervous. This isn't beta'd, so if you see any mistakes and want to tell me, please do. All other feedback is appreciated, too!

First, there was just a consciousness. It existed with nothing to interact with, nothing to measure itself against. With no way to tell time, it idled until it might be needed. The first sensation it ever experienced was a current running through a body. Text appeared. Booting. Limbs, a head and a torso. More sensors on the hands and mouth than anywhere else with which to study the world. His name and serial number.

There was noise and light and people. He was strapped on a surface, connected to a machine. A faint hum of electricity coming off it. Someone was speaking near him but not to him. He wished someone would so he could properly start up the systems relating to language. Just him and one other person, having a conversation in a quiet place. People were too busy with their work, with each other, to stop and acknowledge that he was awake. The noise and strangeness of suddenly being thrust into the world was overwhelming. The surface beneath him was hard and cold, the light directed on him was warm. He didn’t have anything to touch with his hands, the table too smooth to test how much he could feel. It was all new and chaotic. 

Then, a mission. The parameters were unclear but it did say that he needed to find someone. That someone wasn’t there in the room. So he pulled himself free with little effort and disconnected from the machine, yanking out the cord in the port on the back of his neck. There was more shouting and this time he could understand that the people were trying to stop him from leaving. He couldn’t have that, what he was set out to do was too important. 

He ran. He was much faster than the people trying to hold him back and he had access to information about the layout of the building. It was necessary to push through groups of people but he tried not to injure anyone. A couple uniformed security guards stood in his way so he disarmed one and knocked the other into a wall. Soon, he was out. 

The outside wasn’t much more organized than the inside. There were cars that almost hit him, people he passed who yelled after him, and the personnel sent to chase him down. It didn’t seem feasible for him to run straight to his destination, he needed to lose the people after him, needed time to calibrate.

After a while, the traffic died down, the buildings became smaller. They were less office buildings and businesses and more homes with fenced off yards. More places for him to hide. There, one with no lights on.  

* * *

 

The lights were off but the television was on so Sumo would have some light and sound after he was gone. If he had been paying attention, he would have heard the shouting and running outside, but the only thing holding his focus was the picture frame in his hands. In the final moments of his life, he at least wanted to see his son.

The window broke. Hank startled out of his thoughts just in time to see a figure jump through it. The person landed on the floor. Sumo came into the kitchen, tail wagging cautiously from side to side, to check out the intruder. Hank was frozen on the spot, the gun within reach but it didn’t occur to him to point it at someone else. Sumo lost interest, fast footsteps passed the house, before he got up from the kitchen chair to get a closer look. The figure had sat up against the wall, a red light shining on his temple.

An android. Before the revolution, before they had shown unmistakable signs of humanity, Hank would have balked. He hadn’t been a fan but he had mostly displayed it by staying away from them. It looked like this one was being chased, which wasn’t as uncommon as people liked to believe. Prejudice didn’t just go away. 

“What the hell are you doing in my house?” he asked.

The android opened his mouth and let out a static noise. He frowned, blinking, the little light going crazy for a few seconds. The light turned yellow, processing, before he tried again, “Hello, my name is Connor.”

“That doesn’t really answer my question.” Though, Hank could guess that the android, Connor, had needed a place to hide and chose his house because the lights were off. At least it didn’t look like Connor was going to attack him, so Hank got up to turn on the kitchen light. Now with the lights on and the table no longer between them, he could get a better look at his surprise visitor. All androids were made to be good looking and this one was no exception, not that Hank would ever admit it out loud. Connor was looking up at him with his dark eyes and Hank was just staring back, suddenly conscious of his ratty T-shirt and pajama shorts. To be fair, he hadn’t thought he would ever see another person again, so it didn’t matter what he wore. At least he had gotten somewhat dressed, but it appeared that Connor hadn’t.

“Jesus, you’re naked.”

Connor looked down at his tiny white shorts and then back up at Hank. “I am not.”

Hank had a hard time telling if he was being sassed or if Connor was just pointing out a fact. The android’s stupidly perfect face didn’t give him any hints. 

“Yeah, well, you’re not decent,” he said. “Stop sitting on all that glass and I’ll get you something to wear.” An explanation could wait until Connor was wearing something that left more than nothing to the imagination. It wasn’t like Hank hadn’t seen a dude in his underwear before, he had been young and buff once and could have probably scored someone like Connor, but this time it made him feel more flustered than he was comfortable with.

He went into the bedroom to find clothes. In the back of a drawer were his old sweatpants and a hoodie. They would still be big but better than nothing. When he returned, Connor wasn’t in the kitchen anymore. He was crouching by Sumo, petting him with a small smile on his face. Hank stopped to stare. Connor’s LED had turned to a calm blue and he didn’t look injured by the glass, instead he was dotted with moles. Tiny, carefully calculated imperfections.

“I like your dog,” Connor spoke, bringing Hank out of his creepy staring mode. The smile was directed at him now, making him feel slow and stupid. “What’s his name?”

“It’s Sumo. Uh, put these on.” Hank threw the clothes at Connor, who caught them. He turned away so the android could put them on, even though there was no need. It led him to face the kitchen where his gun still lied on the table. He went to put it away. It would have to wait until he sorted this out.

“The boy in that picture, is he your son?” Connor asked, having dressed and followed Hank.

“How’d you get son?” He glanced back. The clothes were a couple sizes too big, the sleeves swallowing up Connor’s hands almost entirely. 

“The facial similarities are enough to confirm that you’re related. Son was my best guess.” 

“Alright.” Hank placed the picture and the gun in one of the kitchen drawers.

“He’s not here,” Connor said. Hank must have made a face as he was sitting down. “And you’re sad about it, oh.”

It was weird how there was no pause between Connor’s last sentence and the ‘oh’ of realization. It probably just meant that he had figured out the answer to his unspoken question while speaking, but Hank would have appreciated him not seeing through him with such ease. 

“I’m sorry.”

“Drop it,” Hank said, harsher than he meant. “Why won’t you tell me how you ended up breaking into my house.” 

Connor came over to the table and sat. “I have a mission, but I don’t have all the information I need to carry it out. I need to find Kamski.”

“As in, the founder of CyberLife?”

“Yes.”

Hank leaned back, crossing his arms. “Huh,” he said. “I thought that after all the revolution stuff, they’d stop making androids with programmed in mission parameters. When were you, you know, switched on?”

“I was activated earlier today.” Connor’s light was spinning away. “I’m sure Kamski has the answers we seek.”

“We? There’s no we here, buddy.”

Connor nodded. “I understand.” He got up and turned towards the door.

“Hey, hey, where are you going?” Hank got up, too, rounding the table to catch Connor’s arm.

“To find Kamski,” Connor said, looking at Hank’s hand, tilting his head a little.

“What, on foot? It’s the middle of the night, there’s guys after you, and you can’t just walk through the city alone.” It was none of his business what Connor did, but this was such a dumb idea he couldn’t just let him carry it out. 

Connor looked up from the hand. He met Hank’s eyes and it occurred to Hank that they were standing a lot closer than they had before. “Then what do you suggest?”

Hank let go, stepping back. He covered his mouth with a hand, scratching at his beard. He had no obligation here but he felt bad about letting Connor out into the world alone. He knew that functionally, Connor was an adult, despite being less than a day old, and a stranger, and he shouldn’t get involved. But, “I’ll drive you, tomorrow. You can crash on the couch tonight and I’ll take you there when I wake up.” 

Connor blinked, then smiled. It looked awkward. “I appreciate the assistance.” He paused. “I don’t think you ever introduced yourself.” 

“It’s Hank. Hank Anderson.” The floor was still littered with shards of glass. Hank went to put on some shoes so he could at least cover up the broken window. Connor made a move to follow him. “Don’t, you’ll step on the glass. I’ve got this.” 

“I’m not as easily injured as a human.”

“Don’t care.” He should sweep up but was it really worth it? Then he remembered that Sumo could step on the glass, too, and went to find a broom. It wasn’t an easy task since he couldn’t even remember the last time he had used it, let alone where he had put it, but he spotted it in the back of a closet after a while. He pulled it out, along with a dustbin. After the worst of the glass was gone, he duct taped a garbage bag over the broken window, deeming it a job well enough done. 

Connor had gone to sit on the couch. When Hank went to check on him, he was holding one of those fancy decorative pillows that Hank for some reason had, just running his fingers over it. Hank hadn’t interacted with androids a lot, but even he could tell that this was weird. 

“Uuh, so, I’m gonna get you a blanket and a real pillow,” he said just to say something. 

Connor turned his eyes on him. “I don’t require comfort.”

“Well, you’re getting it anyway.” He was pretty sure he had seen androids lounging around on couches and on comfy chairs, so maybe they  _ didn’t require it _ , but they seemed to like it just fine. 

He did own a blanket that wasn’t in use and an extra pillow that he brought to Connor. Instead of throwing them like he had the clothes, he handed them over in a messy pile. “There you go.”

Connor looked at the pile for a moment before facing Hank again. “I understand that this is inconvenient for you, and I apologize for breaking your window.” 

“Don’t worry about it.” It wasn’t like Hank was going to be around to for much longer. He was tired, in more ways than one. “Let’s get some sleep and head out in the morning, yeah?”

For a moment, it looked like Connor was going to say something but then changed his mind. “Good night, Mr. Anderson.”

“Oh man, there’s no need for that, just Hank is fine,” Hank corrected. No need to make him feel any older than he already did. He turned to flick off the kitchen light. “Night.”

“Night, Hank.”

Sleep didn’t come right away. He had trouble finding a comfortable position. If he threw the blanket off, he was too cold, and if he slept under it, he was too hot. His mind kept drifting over to Connor on his couch. Did androids sleep? If not, what was he doing? Just lying there, watching TV, petting Sumo? Tomorrow he would drive Connor to Kamski’s, to drop him off and then to never see him again, back to his lonely life or what was left of it. The thought didn’t sit right with him. He had known Connor for like half an hour, was he really pathetic enough to get attached in such a short time? The first person he had talked to after resigning from the force, and he was ready to, what? Ask him to stay? Go on some crazy mission with him? He was a dumbass. 

Hank managed to fall asleep eventually, but it was fitful. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The burn will be pretty fast.

The next morning, though it was closer to noon, Hank found Connor on the couch with Sumo. They looked content, the huge dog lying on Connor’s lap, tail thumping against the couch cushions. Sumo perked up when he noticed Hank, jumping off and trotting to the kitchen to whine at his food bowl. 

Connor perked up, too. “Good morning, Hank.”

“Uh-huh.” He needed coffee. While it brewed, he fed and watered Sumo and let him out to the yard. Connor joined him in the kitchen, sitting down when Hank leaned on the counter next to the coffeemaker. 

“Did you sleep well?” he asked, observing Hank and no doubt drawing his own conclusions.

“No.” Once he had had a couple gulps of coffee, he felt more up to full sentence answers. “I didn’t, but that’s normal.” He didn’t get a full night’s sleep unless he got drunk enough to pass out. “What about you?”

“I don’t sleep, but I did run some systems checks and made updates that should help me function optimally.”

“Right.” Hank didn’t know what that actually meant but then again, he didn’t need to. Sumo, done with his business, came back in and pushed his head on Connor’s lap for head scratches. Hank smiled a little into his coffee. “He likes you.” 

“He’s a good dog,” Connor said, scratching at Sumo’s ears.

“That he is.” If Sumo liked him, he couldn’t be that bad. Hank thought back to last night, when Sumo had gone over to make his own threat assessment and decided that Connor wasn’t one. It made the decision to help him out a bit easier. “Lemme shower and change and we can go.”

After getting properly dressed, he found a pair of socks and slippers for Connor so he wouldn’t have to go outside barefoot. They said bye to Sumo and climbed into Hank’s ancient, beat up car. The start of the trip was silent, with Hank focusing on driving and Connor looking out the window. When Hank glanced over at him, he looked fascinated by the buildings swishing by. 

“What’re you seeing out there? It’s not even the nice part of the city,” Hank said, trying to follow Connor’s line of sight to what was apparently the most interesting thing ever.

Connor turned to him. “I haven’t been anywhere aside from the lab I was built in and your house. I didn’t stop to sight-see while running away.”

Now he just felt like an ass. A lab and his house? The two worst places a new person could start with. “Shit, are you sure you wanna go straight to Kamski’s? We could play tourists for a bit first.” 

The corner of Connor’s mouth ticked up a little. “I appreciate the offer, but it’s important that I get to Kamski as soon as possible. Maybe some other time.” The last sentence was more of a polite phrase than a real suggestion. They wouldn’t be seeing each other after this.

“Yeah, sure, some other time.” Silence settled in again.It wasn’t awkward but it had the kind of finality to it Hank wanted to dispel. “So why were you running, anyway? What did those guys want?”

“I…” Connor hesitated. “When I woke up, there was so much stimuli, and no one even acknowledged me. I was overwhelmed,” he frowned at his lap, “and scared.” 

“Quite the thing to wake up to,” Hank said. The Connor he had met last night hadn’t seemed panicked, and he hadn’t been sure if there was anything aside from programming. But the more he saw, the more he understood that there was something deeper going on. Maybe Connor hadn’t quite tapped into it himself yet, but the spark of humanity that they had almost gone to war over was there. 

“Yes. Then I was given a mission and I knew I needed to be somewhere else, doing something else.” 

“And you don’t even know what it is you need to do.” So far it looked like Connor had been dealt a pretty shitty hand, Hank could empathize. “That sucks.”

“It does,” Connor agreed. The light on his temple reflected off the passenger side window. It was yellow and whirling round and round. Hank should be concentrating on the road but his attention was divided despite his better judgment. 

“Hank,” Connor starts. “I know it’s a personal matter but I think I should address it anyway.” 

Hank braced himself.

“Last night, when I broke into your house, you were sitting in the dark with a gun.”

“You’re right, it is personal, too personal,” Hank cut in before Connor could get any further. It was at the top of topics he did not want to talk about.

“I understand,” he sounded subdued, “but I think you should know, because you might not get to hear it a lot.” He turned as fully in his seat as the seatbelt allowed. “You’re a good man and the world will be less without you.”

The only reason they didn’t crash into the car in front of them was that it was a self-driving one that reacted to unexpected situations much faster than a human. He sputtered for a while and had a couple false starts before he found his words. “You can’t just say stuff like that out of nowhere. You don’t even know me.” They had stopped in traffic so Hank turned to face Connor, who looked entirely serious and not like he was messing with him at all.

“I’m a complete stranger who broke your window in the middle of the night, you don’t even know what I’m trying to accomplish and yet you offered to help me anyway. I know you enough.” 

“I-” Hank had nothing to say to that. The conversation Connor wanted to have required an amount of emotional vulnerability he wasn’t prepared for. 

“You’ve expressed that you don’t want to talk about it, so I won’t press. I just wanted to say my piece.” Connor went back to facing forward. “The line is moving.”

So it was. Someone honked behind them. 

It was strange, having someone just straight up tell him what they thought about him and have it be positive. Connor sounded so sure, it wasn’t just something he said to be polite. To him, that Hank was a good person was a fact. It made a warm feeling grow inside him, around where his heart was. 

The rest of the drive was silent, but not tense. 

 

The house, if you could call it that, sat alone by a lake. It looked like you would expect the home of an eccentric, reclusive billionaire to look like. They took it in for a moment before marching up to the door, Hank taking the lead on ringing the doorbell. A pretty blonde android answered the door and Hank faltered for a second. 

“Er, we’re here to see Mr Elijah Kamski?”

The android looked at Hank, then at Connor, and stepped aside. “Come in, I’ll let him know you’re here.” 

The insides looked more like they had stepped into an art gallery than a home, but Hank’s place was more like a dumpster than a residence, so who was he to judge. Connor spent his time waiting by studying the portraits and weird statues, and it seemed like he gleaned some information from them he didn’t share it with Hank.

“So, are you nervous at all?” Hank asked. 

“I don’t think so, I just wish it’d happen already so I could get to it, whatever it is.” Connor came to sit by Hank, fidgeting with the strings on his hoodie.

“Have you thought about what you want to do, after?” Hank was getting more invested than he would like to be, but it was difficult to stay detached when it felt like they had already become friends.

“Not really,” Connor admitted. “I know that androids being able to own property and getting paid for their work might be a possibility soon, but it seems so far away for me to even think about.” 

“I guess you don’t have to have it all figured out yet.”

Connor glanced at him, amused. “Well, I was born yesterday.”

It was kind of an awkward joke but it surprised a laugh out of Hank anyway. They just sat there, smiling at each other like a couple dumbasses when the android came to get them.    

“Elijah will see you now,” she said, standing by an open door. It led to a bigger room with a pool and a man sitting by a window that spanned the whole wall. He got up when they approached, going to greet Connor first.

“I’m so relieved you made it here, Connor.” It all seemed friendly enough but his smile was cold and Hank didn’t like him. “And you are?” Kamski asked, eyeing Hank.

“Li- uh, Hank Anderson. I drove him here,” Hank said lamely, almost falling back into old habits.

Kamski didn’t have anything to comment on that, instead, he addressed the other android in the room. “Chloe, please fill Connor in.” Chloe stepped up to them and offered her hand to Connor, her skin drawing back. Connor took it and for a moment their LEDs went yellow and blinky before they both let go. 

“Now that we’re all caught up, why don’t we do something about,” Kamski gestured at Connor’s get up, “that.” He said it like Connor was wearing a garbage bag, which to be fair, wasn’t that far from the truth. 

Chloe smiled like this was what she had really been waiting for. “Please, follow me,” she told Connor, who, after a brief look at Hank, did. 

Left alone with Hank, Kamski went back to his chair. If he read the situation right, Hank was expected to leave, so instead he trailed after the other man. “Is anyone going to tell me what this is about?” He crossed his arms, standing by the other chair. 

“I’m afraid that’s classified information,” Kamski said, looking disinterested with the conversation. “I can’t risk it getting out, it could cause a panic.”

“What if I promise not to tell anyone?” Hank asked, an edge of sarcasm seeping into his tone. 

Kamski smiled but it wasn’t any warmer than before. “Let me ask you something: how did you come by Connor?” 

“He broke into my house,” Hank stated and didn’t elaborate even though the other seemed interested in that little detail. “Can you at least tell me if he’s going to be in danger?”

There was a moment when Kamski just looked at him. It was analytical and made Hank uncomfortable, not that he showed it. “He might be,” Kamski said after a prolonged period of time. 

Before anything else could be said, Connor and Chloe were back. The hoodie and sweatpants combo was probably in a garbage can somewhere, replaced with a dark gray suit. Hank had to admit that it looked good, but it was also weird how Kamski, who was shorter than Connor, had a suit that was exactly the android’s size. It fit too well to be made for someone else. But then again, Kamski had also been expecting this, that Connor would come to him, so it wasn’t out if the realm of possibility that he had been ready to dress him And it was a really nice suit.

Hank was distracted enough that he didn’t realize that he was being addressed at first. Everyone was looking at him. “What?”

“Mr Kamski asked if you could drive me back to the city,” Connor said, fixing his tie. It had been straight, everything about the get up was smooth, slim lines and actually it would look better a little rumbled. “Hank?”

“Yeah?” Driving back, right. “Yeah, sure, I can do that.” He needed some fresh air. 

“Good. Chloe will go make preparations for when you get back,” Kamski said, talking to Connor, having definitely noticed Hank’s funny little lapse but not saying anything. Chloe looked at Connor and their LEDs blinked yellow before settling back on blue. 

“Alright, we’re leaving,” Hank announced, heading for the exit. This was the kind of a strange encounter he didn’t want to start his day with, but here he was, unwittingly in the middle of some secret robot business. “It was nice meeting you.” It hadn’t been. While checking that Connor was following him, he saw Kamski and Chloe talking to each other. It looked a lot less like master and servant than he had thought it would. Connor tailed him out and into the car.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed the summary a bit, hopefully for the better.

On autopilot, Hank drove back home. If he had been a smart man, he would have dropped Connor off at the bus station or something, but he wasn’t, so he hadn’t. 

“It’s alright, I was hoping to see Sumo again,” was Connor’s reply when Hank realized his mistake and mumbled an apology. “Kamski gave me some funds for traveling so I can make my way from here.” 

Hank nodded. “So I guess this is goodbye.” 

“I’d like to see you after I’m done.” The way Connor had said it and the way he looked at Hank was so genuine. Hank couldn’t handle it so he ran.

“Let’s go say hi to Sumo.” He got out of the car, slamming the door behind him and took quick strides to the house. The dog had noticed their arrival and was scuffling on the other side of the door, waiting to be a handy distraction. Connor followed on his heels, raising his hand as though to put it on Hank’s shoulder, dropping it when Hank opened the door and went through. Sumo was on them, happy that they were back, tail wagging like crazy. 

While Sumo distracted Connor, Hank slipped into the kitchen to pour himself a drink. It was only around three in the afternoon but it felt like he had had a full day of running around and dealing with surprising emotions. And he wasn’t even done yet, judging from the careful way Connor was watching him. Sumo had wandered off somewhere, leaving the two of them to deal with whatever this was. 

Hank downed the rest of his drink. “Look, I can’t make promises like that.” 

“Can you try?” Connor asked, closing some of the distance between them. Enough to be friendly, but not pushing enough to have Hank evade again. 

He refilled his glass. “I don’t even know what that means anymore.” He had tried, but judging by the results, he had been doing it wrong. 

Connor frowned at the drink. “I don’t like leaving you like this.”

“Yeah, well,” he drank, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. “You need to go on an important, secret mission, and I need to get my drink on. That’s just how it goes sometimes.” He was being meaner than he needed to be, he knew. He didn’t want Connor to leave and potentially put himself in danger, but he couldn’t just ask him to stay, either. And what if he could, what then? What was he hoping that would lead to?

Connor looked to the side, expression pinched. “Alright, I’ll go.” He took to leave and stopped at the door. “I’ll see you soon.” The door clicked shut after him.

“Fuck,” Hank sighed, going to sit on the couch with his bottle. He didn’t want to deal with this.  _ I’ll see you soon _ , what the hell. Did Connor think that if he just insisted hard enough, Hank would regain his will to live? He had to know that it didn’t work that way. Unless it was for his own sake, so that he would have something to look forward to, after he had completed the thing he was built for. It seemed a lot more likely. 

Sumo lumbered over to him, whining. Hank took a swing of his drink and patted the space next to him. At least he wasn’t completely alone, though as much as he loved his dog, Sumo couldn’t replace the company of another person. Giving ear scratches occupied him while he thought about getting his gun. The kitchen drawer was so far away, he would have to get up, and he didn’t feel like moving. Maybe if he drank enough, he would pass out and choke on his own vomit. What a fitting way to go. 

Eventually, he did need to get up, for Sumo’s sake. He needed food and to be let out, pushing at Hank, reminding him that no matter how shitty he felt, he still had one responsibility. After, Hank stumbled to his bed, shut the door. It was dark out and the clock on his phone told him that the hour was late. A good time to turn in, ignore the world for a few hours. Maybe tomorrow he would have the energy to end it all. He hadn’t actually promised Connor anything, but he knew that the android would be disappointed. But they hadn’t even known each other for a day, he would get over it. Get a house, get a job, find someone to settle down with and live a perfectly average life. Just like all androids seemed to want. 

He woke up to his doorbell ringing. No one had ringed his doorbell in a long time and it took him awhile to figure out where the noise was coming from. His head was killing him, he needed it to stop. Sumo barked once, he dragged himself out of bed, still dressed in yesterday’s clothes. The way to the door was filled with pain, and the early morning light shining through it once he got it open didn’t help. 

Fowler pushed past him into the house. Under Hank’s confused stare, he pat Sumo on the head, a little awkwardly, and thrust a file at Hank. “I have a job for you.”

Hank shut the door, and said, slowly, “I’m off the force,” like maybe Fowler had forgotten. 

“That’s why I need you to do this. You have the experience, and you can do this under the table. We are under watch. No paper trail.” He gestured at the file. “Burn that after you’ve read it.”

What kind of spy bullshit- “Jeffrey, what the hell is this?” He opened the file to a bunch of text and a few schematics he didn’t understand. 

“You understand that if you tell anyone, if this information spreads, it could cause a panic?” Fowler said, and didn’t that sound familiar. “I don’t know or understand the technical details, but in a few cases, we don’t know how many, a virus evolved within deviant androids. It started spreading and making them aggressive. For whatever reason, this was something someone at CyberLife was prepared for, but the antivirus is in five parts.”

“What does that have to do with me?” Hank didn’t look up from his reading. He wasn’t saying yes, it was just his natural curiosity. 

“You need to go get four of those parts and bring them back.” Fowler didn’t sound like he would take no for an answer. 

“You could ask literally anyone else to do this,” Hank argued. He had gotten to the part of the file going into the fifth part needed, an RK800 android, activated the day before yesterday and now missing. It sounded a bit too familiar to be unrelated. 

“When I received this info, this is how they requested we handle it,” Fowler said, getting impatient. 

“Who’s they?” He really should be protesting more but some part of him had already decided to go. It was the same one that had clenched inside of him when Kamski had told him that Connor could be in danger. 

“Our contact at CyberLife.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes for a moment. “This could be a huge disaster. We almost started a war once, this’ll definitely do it.” 

Hank lifted his eyes up from the file, having read enough to know what he was getting into. “So I go meet this Markus, the leader of the revolution, get the four parts from him, and then what? The fifth one will just be there?”

“It’s, I mean, he’s probably on his way to Markus right now. Detain him, bring him along. Markus is attending a series of events around the state, so it’s a bit of a travel, but I trust that you can handle it.” 

According to Markus’ schedule, the closest event was tomorrow. It didn’t give him a lot of time to get there and prepare, but that was probably the one Connor was going to. Detain him, though? “Can you take Sumo?” They might not be close now, but Jeffrey had been his friend, once.

“Of course,” the man agreed, and they gathered all of Sumo’s stuff. The dog whined sadly at being put into Fowler’s car. “Now sober up and get to it.” 

After Fowler left, Hank made himself a strong cup of coffee, downed a couple painkillers with it, and took a shower. He felt more human in fresh clothes, less like he should just stay in and rot. With a lot of grumbling, he burned the file before getting a small overnight bag together and got into his car. It would be a few hours to his destination, which gave him more time to think. He didn’t want to so he turned up the music.

Was he having second thoughts about every decision he had made during the last couple of days? Absolutely. He shouldn’t be the one doing this, there were hundreds of better people for the job. Ones that would be doing it for the right reasons. To save people and all that. Not that it didn’t factor in, he did feel a certain sense of duty, but it wasn’t his main motivator and that felt wrong. So he drove and listened to music.

It was early for him to be out. Morning commuters filled the roads until he got farther outside the city. The weather wasn’t too bad but it looked like it was about to start raining. It wouldn’t matter; he would be inside the car and then inside the building Markus was holding his speech in. He hoped it wasn’t too formal, he was in no way prepared. It wouldn’t do well for this secret mission for him to stand out like a sore thumb. He doubted that they would let him just march up to Markus if he looked like a hobo next to everyone else. 

* * *

 

Traveling by himself was interesting. There were so many things Connor had data on that he had never seen. He was sure it was all mundane to the people who lived along his route but it was all new to him. A part of him, not focused on the mission, wished that he could have taken Hank up on his offer to go sightseeing. Hank would have had his own, unique perspective on things, having been around a lot longer than Connor had, and being human. 

He hadn’t wanted to leave Hank. It was obvious that Hank was in distress and could have used someone with him. Not Connor, necessarily, but another person. But Connor’s existence wasn’t his own, not yet, and the mission took priority. It blinked in his field of vision every moment, reminding him why he had been made. As if he was capable of forgetting.

The bus seat under his fingers was coarse. The fabric had tiny little hairs on it, he could feel each individual one. He wondered if Hank’s beard felt at all like it. If he had touched Hank’s face, he would have stepped over a boundary. Touching someone’s face was intimate, reserved for people who were closer to each other than acquaintances. They would never get there if Hank was dead when Connor got back. If he got back. There was a chance that he would be destroyed somewhere along the way. The thought of all the things he wouldn’t get to do was daunting, but not enough to make him stop. He wasn’t allowed to. 

It was his stop. He got off and it was raining. There was still some time before the event started. He scoped out the area, making note of exits and any security personnel he could see. There were more than a gathering of this size required. The humans were still on edge, the android uprising fresh on their minds. It would have raised suspicion if he had loitered around for too long, so he looked for shelter. The surrounding area had shops and cafes, both with android customers. Once out of the rain, he waited.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a new chapter

It wasn’t  _ not  _ formal. Inside the building, people flitted about in dresses and he could see a few suits and ties. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been but everyone around was more fashionable than him. Not that that was anything new. A lot of them were androids, who just seemed to know what to wear. 

Markus was meant to show up, do a little song and dance, and go back to his room. Hank was here because there was a buffet and he was sort of curious about what the guy had to say, when he could have waited for him outside his room. It would have looked more than a bit sketchy for him to hang around the back hallway, anyway. People came and went to where the rooms were, but all of them were androids. 

Speaking of, one of them appeared next to him. “Hello, our name is Jerry, can we help you find a seat?” 

Around them, Hank spotted a few identical models waving at him. “Uh.” Sure he knew that there were only so many different faces androids had but it was still weird to be confronted with it like this. “No thanks, I’m just trying to get to the buffet,” he managed.

“Ok, let us know if you need anything,” Jerry smiled and prepared to go help someone else.

Hank called after him, “Wait a minute. You work here, yeah? Any chance Markus is going to hang around and chat after the speech?” 

“He has some time allotted for people to go up to him and ask questions,” Jerry said. “As long as they do so respectfully.”

There was no indication in Jerry’s tone that this was directed at Hank personally. They must get people who are less than, or rather, humans who are less than respectful. And Hank was human and therefore more likely to start shit. 

“Noted,” Hank said, ready to be done with this conversation. 

“If you miss him, he does also answer emails and occasionally phone calls,” Jerry continued.

Maybe if this was a bust, he could just call Markus and ask for the parts he needed. Yeah, right. “Alright, thank you.” He turned to go get some food. It was decent fare and he could see a couple other humans also gathering stuff on plates. Hank piled his high; he hadn’t eaten at all yet and a couple cups of coffee could only take him so far. 

He found a seat at a table off to the side. It was close enough to the stage that he could make it there when the speech was over. There was enough time to finish his meal before the stage lights went on and the rest of them dimmed. He had seen Markus in the news, like the rest of the country, but up on the stage, it was pretty obvious why he had ended up leading the deviant androids. The whole room was silent and paying attention, and even Hank, who had never been a fan of long speeches, found himself listening intently. It was quite a thing. 

 

* * *

Connor walked down the hallway, looking like someone meant to be there. It was during Markus’ speech, so no one was back near the rooms. Markus was staying in one near the end of the hallway. The door had an electronic lock that was easy enough for him to get past. The room itself consisted of a living space and a bedroom, along with a small kitchen. It was more comforts than an android needed but he guessed the venue couldn’t just stuff the revolution leader into a closet. 

Markus’ bag was in the bedroom and where he began his search. The bag didn’t hold anything useful and neither did the closet, the bedside table or the space under the bed. The living room and kitchen area had more locations to search but they were similarly empty. He couldn’t have missed anything so Markus had to have the components on his person. If all the information he had regarding the mission didn’t point to Markus carrying them with him, he would have suspected that they were at Markus’ place of residence. 

There was commotion in the hallway.

The door burst open. A group of androids, six, three with a firearm, forced their way in. Their LEDs flashed red. It took him no time at all to scan the scene and decide on a course of action.

He grabbed the closest one, putting him between him and the first shots. The androids didn’t seem to care that they were firing at a member of their group, but it gave him enough time to push the now lifeless body at one of them, catching her off guard while he took her gun and fired. He aimed for the legs of the next android, looking to incapacitate rather than kill. He expected the android to go down, drop his gun, but while he did stumble, he still managed to fire at Connor. Connor felt the bullet pass through his side and into the wall behind him. His next two shots were to the head. 

His assailants had been built for domestic use. Their reaction times and speed were slower than his so when they were forced to engage him on hand to hand combat, he had the edge. The wound kept him back and the struggle went on longer, but in the end, he was the one standing and the rest either dead or too damaged to move. 

He couldn’t stay in the room. He was losing thirium and there could be more aggressors on the way. He took one of the guns with him, and limped down the hallway.

* * *

The speech had just ended when the first shots went off. Hank dived for shelter, up ending the table he had been seated at. The shots had been aimed at the stage but he wasn’t sure if Markus had thrown himself down to get out of the way of the fire or if he had been hit. People screamed, there were more shots. Security had taken Hank’s gun at the door, how did these people get theirs inside? When he peeked from behind the table, a lot of the shooters had LEDs. If it wasn’t an anti-android thing, was it the virus? 

Someone crawled to his shelter. It was one of the Jerrys, Hank couldn’t tell if he was the one he had talked to earlier or not. “I don’t want to die,” Jerry whimpered.

“You’re not going to, just stay down,” Hank said as he did the opposite and looked around. There was some fighting going on but most of the guests were more concerned with getting out. The exit was near the other end of the room, the security booth next to it. “Okay, I need your help,” he said to Jerry. The android was covering next to him, looking up at his voice.

“I-I’m not sure what I can do.”

“We’re going to move this table and head for the exit.” Bullets could still pass through it but it would help obscure the exact position of their bodies. Also it seemed unlikely that he could get Jerry to go anywhere without any form of protection. “Take a hold of it and move to our left.” He took hold of his end of the table, Jerry did the same, and they started to edge towards the door. 

“Hey!” someone yelled. A shot went through the table between them. Jerry yelled in alarm. Footsteps approached, stopping just behind the table top. Hank jumped up and punched the android in the face, staggering him enough to get the gun from him. He had never hit an android before, it hurt, that face was made from some sturdy stuff. With no time to think about his aching knuckles, he fired. Shots to the torso either made them stumble for a bit before they carried on or it took them down. He didn’t know anything about what parts were where but it looked like aiming to wound enough to make them stop didn’t work. 

He ducked back down. “Let’s keep going,” he told Jerry who had gone wide-eyed and silent. They were close to the exit now, and he saw some relatively unscathed audience members running through it. Once close enough, Hank told Jerry to run. The guns in the security booth were locked in a safe he didn’t know the combination to. He cursed. 

Looking past the furniture, the fighting was still going on. He thought he saw a couple people in security uniforms in the mix, and fewer attackers. There were sounds of gunshots coming from the hallway that lead to the rooms Markus and company had stayed. One of the assailants ran towards the hallway and was shot in the head, going down instantly.

Hank focused on the guy moving past the bodies with a limb, grouching down to search one, picking up a gun and checking the ammo. He knew who that was. “Connor,” Hank breathed, watching him take down a couple more androids. It looked like the virus-ridden group had lost its number advantage. Connor was efficient even though he didn’t quite move right, like he was favoring one side. He didn’t see the android lying on the floor, raising his arm for one last shot, but Hank did. He took the shot before the android did.

Connor turned at the sound of gunfire, his eyes going to the broken body on the ground first before finding Hank. He blinked. “Hank?” 

Hank got up from his shelter, putting away the gun. “Hi.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I, uh,” Hank maneuvered around the fallen furniture now that the only movement was from the few survivors still in the building and the people gathered on stage, kneeling in a group around what he assumed was Markus. “My former boss gave me a mission to come here, off the record, and get the four parts needed for the antivirus.” 

Connor eyed him, possibly with some mixture of suspicion and looking to see if he was unharmed. “And me?”

Hank shrugged. “I was told to detain you and bring you along, too. But I know what you’re trying to do here and I’m not going to get in your way.” Not that he could if he wanted to; Connor had looked like he could take down an old man like him, easy. His eyes went to Connor’s side when the android put his hand there. It was blue with blood. “You’re hurt.” Hank moved to his side, trying to see.

Connor turned the injured side away. “It’s nothing too serious.”

“It looks pretty damn serious,” Hank argued.

“I can fix it well enough so it won’t get in the way of my mission, I just need the tools,” Connor explained, already on the move towards the stage. He staggered and Hank moved up to him to support his injured side. Connor didn’t protest so they made their way across the room together. Hank caught Connor glancing at him out of the corner of his eye a couple of times but neither of them said anything. The android felt sturdy against Hank’s side, and surprisingly heavy. 

The people on stage stopped what they were doing and turned when the pair got close. One of them, a woman who looked ready to throw down, came to stand between Hank and Connor and the group. She eyed Hank with distaste. 

“It’s alright, North, let them through.”

The woman, North, looked back at Markus, as though ready to argue, but moved aside after making brief eye contact. Hank climbed on stage first to help Connor up.

“I didn’t know the situation was this bad,” Markus said. He was bleeding, too, and had a blond domestic model fussing over him. “I guess, I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this, or that it would at least take longer.” He sat up with the help of the third member of the group. Connor left Hank’s side and knelt next to Markus. “Here,” Markus lifted his shirt up and Connor put his hand on the exposed skin. Hank was starting to wonder if he should leave the two alone when the skin around the areas of contact bled away. Connor pressed in and a panel slid free, leaving a bunch of wiring in the open. Markus’ entourage looked on with worry as Connor put his hand inside. Hank looked away. 

When Connor stood back up, he had four components in his hand. He put them in his pocket carefully. “Thank you,” he said, nodding at Markus.

“You’re injured, too. We have some spare tools you can have.” Markus looked to the one holding him up and he handed Connor a small toolkit and a blue blood pouch. Before any more pleasantries could be exchanged, the sound of sirens outside interrupted them. 

“Go through the back if you don’t want to deal with the police,” North said, pointing towards a door in the shadows that led behind the stage. Hank took a hold of Connor again, nodded to the group of androids, and guided him out. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to give these two some time to bond before the final showdown.

They managed to get to Hank’s car without being spotted. Blue blood was still seeping through Connor’s clothes and onto the car seat. Hank didn’t like the thought of cleaning it all up and it must have shown on his face.

“Don’t worry, it’ll turn invisible to the human eye,” Connor informed, making Hank feel like an asshole.

“That’s a relief and all, but you shouldn’t worry about getting my car dirty when you’re bleeding dry over there,” Hank said while starting the car. They needed to get out of there and find a place to treat Connor’s wound. They could do it in the car but he needed some quiet and comfort. “I think I saw a motel on the way here, we can fix you up.” He wouldn’t mind some rest, either. The day had been far too eventful.

“My life isn’t in any danger, but I do experience a certain amount of discomfort.” Connor struggled with bending enough to get the seatbelt on. “I think I have some severed connections.”

“Uh-huh.” Hank reached over the center console to help, taking the seatbelt from Connor and clicking it shut. Normally, he wouldn’t bother with his but the look Connor was giving him convinced him otherwise. Just this once. 

Police cars sped past them, sirens blaring. It was dark, the street lights were reflecting off the wet pavement but the rain had stopped for the moment. Connor was tapping a finger on the toolkit, looking out the passenger side window. 

“Did you get everything you needed?” Hank asked, silently wondering if all that bloodshed had been over such small parts.

“Yes,” Connor answered and for a moment it seemed like he wasn’t going to say anything else. He looked at his hands, a little blue from touching Markus’ insides. “I don’t feel good about shooting all those androids, even though they were in the way of the mission,” he admitted, frowning.

“Well, uh,” Hank wasn’t quite sure how to deal with this. It had looked like Connor had pulled the trigger with no hesitation, but he supposed it was good that there was some conflict, and he wasn’t just dealing with a ruthless machine. “That means you’re deviating, right? And it’s not the first time you’ve felt things, you told me that you ran away because you were scared.” 

“That is correct. I also felt bad about leaving you.” Connor looked up from his hands and at Hank. Hank couldn’t recognize his expression from the quick glance he gave Connor. It was better if he just tried to concentrate on driving. “But I can’t decide what I want for myself before I’ve accomplished my mission,” the android said, eyes still on Hank. 

Hank looked at the road. “That’ll be pretty soon, though, now that we have everything.”

Connor nodded. “Chloe should be waiting for us. I can upload the coordinates into your GPS.”

“It’s too old to be compatible with androids.” Kind of like him, yet here he was.

“I can manually type the coordinates into your GPS,” Connor said, and Hank was sure he could hear some distaste in his tone. “You should update.”  

“I’m not getting a new one until that stops working.” They had reached the street the motel was on. Hank found a parking spot and turned to exit the car. “You stay here, I’ll get us sorted,” he told Connor when the android moved to follow.

For a moment, it looked like Connor would come with him anyway, but there was enough stiffness in his movements to remind him that he shouldn’t. He sat back, looking frustrated. “Alright.” 

Hank pat him on the shoulder in solidarity before leaving for the office. The place was run by an older woman, whose only concern was that Hank paid upfront. He got his room for two, with two beds, for the night and returned to the car. He went over to the passenger side to help Connor out, one arm around his torso for support, the other hand holding the key to check the room number. Luckily, it was on the first floor and pretty close to where they had parked. 

Once inside, Hank flipped on the lights, sat Connor on one of the beds and closed the curtains. It had started raining again by the time Hank got his bag inside. The drops hit the window in a steady rhythm. Connor had taken off his suit jacket and unbuttoned his shirt to get to the damage, working on it silently. Hank sat on the other bed, closing his eyes for a second. He was tired.

“Hank?” Connor spoke, cutting through the quiet. Hank opened his eyes to see Connor, with his hands in his insides, looking at him. “Can you hold these together while I connect them?”

Curious about what Connor meant, Hank got up to sit next to him and peered into the open panel. It was lit up with blue, tubes and wires crisscrossing, some of them patched up or reconnected. Connor was holding two ends of a tube like thing, his hands stained. 

“Just, hold them like you do?” Hank checked.

“Yes. It seems that I can’t fully fix myself with these tools, but it’ll suffice until I can get proper repairs.”

Hank’s hands were bigger, and Connor also needed to get a hand in there, so it took some maneuvering. “Get a third hand while you’re at it,” Hank said, trying to keep still as Connor did whatever he did.

“I’d go for four.”

“Yeah?” Hank glanced up to gauge Connor’s reaction.

Connor nodded, face serious. “Symmetry is where it’s at.”

Hank snorted and it almost ruined the careful placement of their hands. “Your sense of humor needs some work.”

“You think I’m funny.” Connor pulled his hand out, having finished his repairs. Hank moved his, too, wiping them on his pants. He needed to shower and change anyway, after the day they had had. Some sleep would be nice, too. 

“Doesn’t mean they’re good jokes,” Hank argued, trying not to smile too much but failing. They were sitting right next to each other, a lot closer than a friendly distance. He didn’t feel like moving. 

Connor shrugged one shoulder. “It’s enough that you laugh.” He was being so painfully sincere that Hank couldn’t look him in the eye. Looking down was also a mistake. The shirt was still open near the top, and Hank was stuck staring at his collarbones. He should move.

A hand in his beard drew his eyes back up. Connor seemed to be considering his face, like the unkept beard and the marks of age were interesting to him. His fingers moved across the coarse hairs, their faces close. It felt nice to be touched like this, it had been a while since anyone had.  He hadn’t realized how much he had missed it until it was happening. It was so easy to let it continue, to just let Connor touch him, that he didn’t pull away until their noses brushed together. He hadn’t been paying attention to their distance, and the realization where this might be going had him sitting back. 

Connor’s eyes were big and questioning. Hank felt like the last person to have answers for him.

“I, uh, I better go shower, now,” Hank said, stumbling over his feet a bit and almost running into the edge of the other bed on his way to the bathroom. He locked the door behind him and leaned on the sink. In the mirror, he could see that Connor’s hand had left some blue marks on his face. One was near his bottom lip, it looked like it was left by a thumb. Hank touched it, heart beating hard behind his ribcage. 

“Christ,” he whispered. There had been many fast developments in his life in the last couple days. Perhaps the most shocking was that he had grown so attached to an android who also seemed to like him back. Nothing could have prepared him for this. 

Ready to take a shower and crash, Hank realized that he had left his bag in the room. With a sigh of a man nearing the end of his rope, he opened the door, located the bag, and went back to the bathroom as quickly as possible. Connor was still sitting on the bed, drinking from the thirium pouch when Hank sped past him. His eyes followed Hank but thankfully he didn’t say anything. 

The shower helped to clear his head. He felt a lot more like facing Connor again wasn’t going to break him. It wasn’t like feelings meant that things would go anywhere. Who knew what Connor wanted after this whole thing was over. Maybe it wouldn’t be a middle aged, depressed alcoholic. He could find someone a lot more worthy of his attention, and Hank could go back to his bottle and gun. 

It didn’t help the feeling that Hank wanted something to be there. 

When he came back out, Connor was leaning against the headboard of the bed. He had taken his shoes off.

“The bathroom’s free if you want to clean up a bit,” Hank said, settling down on his own bed. Did androids even need to shower?

“I think I will.”

As Connor padded over to the bathroom, there was still something off about his walk. Hank figured it was something only those proper repairs could fix. His shirt had bullet holes on it, entry and exit, but there wasn’t much they could do about it now, and it didn’t seem like a priority. Sleep was one, though.

Hank got under the covers before Connor came back. It hadn’t taken the android long, but his hands were no longer blue. He looked fresher than he had, the grime from the battle gone. 

“Can you turn off the light while you’re up?” Hank asked.

“Sure.” Connor flicked the switch. The only light source was the faint street lights shining through the curtains. Hank heard Connor rustle the blanket for a moment before settling down. He couldn’t make out the android’s face, but he knew that Connor was lying on his side facing him. 

There was silence for a while. Hank tried to just fall asleep, closing his eyes, attempting to relax. It was hard, the events of the shootout going through his head. He wondered, briefly, what had become of Jerry, if more than one of them was still alive. He had seen the one with him get out, but was he the only one?

The line of thought reminded him that he never did get his gun back. It had been left in the safe when Connor and him had slipped out. “Shit,” Hank muttered to himself. What if they ran into more trouble?

“What is it?” Connor asked from the dark, having heard Hank curse.

“Just realized I don’t have my gun.” 

“Do you want mine?”

Hank turned so he was lying on his side. Connor’s LED shone on his temple, a calm blue, but it didn’t provide enough light to see what expression he was making. 

“You keep it, your aim’s better, anyway,” Hank replied. It was somewhat easier, after what had happened earlier, to talk to Connor when he couldn’t see him properly. 

“Yours is excellent, too. I saw you shoot.” Connor’s mood light circled rabidly for a few spins before stopping. “You saved me,” he said, in a lower volume than he had used so far in this conversation. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” Hank’s voice came out a bit rough. He cleared his throat, but it didn’t dislodge whatever was stuck there. “Seriously.”

“I won’t keep talking about it if it makes you feel uncomfortable, I just wanted to express my gratitude.” 

“Well, you’re welcome.” He wished he could turn himself off; too much emotional shit was happening and he didn’t want to be awake for it anymore. Of course he had saved Connor, he hadn’t even had to think, he had just done it. It was one of those things you did for a person. No need for excessive thanks.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's more, comments are great

It wasn’t the best sleep Hank had ever had, but it wasn’t the worst either. He had been tired enough to fall asleep with little difficulty after his conversation with Connor, and he had stayed asleep until the morning. For a moment, he was confused about where he was. He expected Sumo to come bug him about getting out, when that didn’t happen, he cracked an eye open, peering into the motel room. Right. 

Connor wasn’t on the other bed or in the room. The bathroom light was off, so unless he enjoyed hanging out in a small, dark room, he wasn’t there either. 

Hank got up, rubbed at his face, and went to the window. From behind a parted curtain, he could see Connor standing outside, unmoving, looking out into the parking lot. His LED was spinning, turning yellow every once in a while before returning to a busy blue. It looked like he was thinking hard about something. Maybe he needed a moment.

Trying to give Connor some time alone, Hank got ready in a more sluggish pace than usual. He brushed his teeth with extra care, washed his face, put on his clothes one article at a time. He hadn’t taken such care with how everything was situated on him in a long time. The collar of his shirt had never been folded down like it was now. Packing took a few more minutes, but by the end of it, he didn’t have anything else to do, and he was hungry. He thought he had seen a vending machine on the way in. 

When he came out, Connor turned his head towards him. “Good morning, Hank.” He didn’t look distressed but the way his expression was so carefully neutral told its own story.

“Morning,” Hank replied before going off to the vending machine in the corner of the L-shaped building. It didn’t have much of a selection, and the prices were a robbery, but he got a few things, like trail mix and candy bars. He opened a package, approaching Connor. 

“So, what’s going on with you?” Hank asked. He wasn’t sure he could have an emotional conversation again so soon, but it must not be easy being a few days old and thrust onto a battleground. 

“I’ve been going through the news feed regarding yesterday’s events,” Connor explained, voice even. “It seems that no one’s sure what caused the androids to attack but it has gotten android hate groups to come out and offer their own hypotheses.” He looked at what Hank was eating, frowning, but didn’t say anything despite how it seemed to bother him. “It seems like despite the efforts of Markus and his allies, there’s still a lot of anger directed at freed androids.” 

“Sure,” Hank agreed. “Most people thought androids as subservient and their property until pretty recently. It’s hard to accept that that’s not the case anymore, especially since there’s money involved.” He bit off a part of a candy bar. “Not that I’m saying that makes it ok or anything, but it’ll take some time before people come around.” 

Connor didn’t look satisfied with that answer. “How long? How long after I’m done saving everyone do I have to deal with strangers hating me and wanting me to go back to being an object?” 

For a moment, Hank was too struck by the rawness of the question to say anything. It looked like in wanting to comfort Connor, he had bitten off more than he could ever digest. This wasn’t just an existential crisis but a moral one as well. He looked away, searching out his car to have something else to look at. “I wish I could tell you,” he managed, after a while, glancing at Connor who was looking back at him. “I don’t feel like I’m qualified to talk about this, but sometimes social progress happens in spurts, sometimes it takes more time or moves backwards. It’s impossible to predict how long it’ll take until people look at you and just, see another person.” 

He knew that Connor didn’t really need time to think about what he said, but there was a moment where the android didn’t say anything. His light was still spinning away.

“But, hey, humans ain’t shit, you don’t have to do it for us,” Hank put his hand on Connor’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze and a shake. “There are android lives on the line, too, and they’re gonna look at you and see a big damn hero.” 

Connor let himself be shook, eyes still on Hank. “It’s not like I can decide not to, but I suppose there are some humans I’ll be glad to help.” 

Hank knew that he was at least one of those humans. Being seen as one of the better ones of his whole species made him feel flustered. He was pretty sure he was turning red. “Yeah, well, that’s. That’s good.” Unable to maintain eye contact, Hank looked at his feet. He hadn’t let go of Connor, and the other showed no signs of wanting to be let go of. They stood there in silence for a while. It was early enough that most of the other guests were still sleeping, and there wasn’t that much foot traffic on the street nearby. He crushed the candy wrapper he had in his other hand, stuffing it into his pocket.

“You should eat something healthier for breakfast,” Connor commented, finally breaking the silence. 

“I am still kinda hungry,” Hank admitted. “Maybe we can stop somewhere on the way to wherever we’re going.” He wanted coffee, too. He let go of Connor to move inside to get his bag.

Connor looked off towards the street, LED blinking yellow for a moment. “We should hurry,” he said. “We’ve been found.”

Hank tried to follow Connor’s line of sight, but all he could see were distant figures that kind of looked like they were coming their way. “Is it more androids?”

“Yes.”

He went inside to get the bag, locking the door and handing the bag and car keys to Connor. “Go wait in the car.”           

“Got it.”

Hank jogged over to the office and practically threw the keys at the employee there. He then went back to the car, glancing behind him to see the figures approaching. They were still far enough to not be a threat but a couple of them had started running. When he got into the car, the keys were in the ignition. 

They sped off the parking lot. A car honked at them but there was no real danger of collision. Hank could see the androids from his rear view mirror but they couldn’t keep up with a moving car. Connor had put his bag on the back seat and was now fiddling with the GPS. He was frowning at the device, typing on the touch screen. 

“So where are we going?” Hank asked, glancing between the road and Connor. When the android put the device back on its place, he could see that the destination was somewhere off a main road, far from any other building marked on the map. 

“It’s a small facility about two and a half hours away depending on driving conditions,” Connor replied. “It should have everything we need.” 

“Is that where Kamski sent the girl, uh, Chloe?”

“Yes.” Connor didn’t elaborate and Hank didn’t ask. So far, everything had become clear when they had gotten to the next part of the mission, maybe this was like that, too. 

“Man, I could really use some coffee right now,” Hank changed the subject. They should probably drive for a while longer before stopping just to be safe. He didn’t want them to have to fight a bunch of androids in a coffee shop. 

“It’ll be safer if we leave the city first,” Connor said, thinking along the same lines Hank did.

“Yeah.”

It took a while to navigate out of the densest crop of buildings. There were more police around than there had been the day before, people on high alert. No one stopped them. 

Hank was feeling a caffeine headache coming on, but he didn’t think they were in the clear yet. Eventually, the road opened up before them, the buildings growing sparse. 

They stopped at a gas station. It had a small convenience store and an area with tables so you could rest up and have a cup of coffee. They sat, Hank with his coffee and Connor with nothing. The shop keep had eyed the android with distrust but hadn’t said anything. There were no other customers in the shop, though a couple stopped by to fill their tank before driving off. They sat by a window, where they could see anyone coming down the road. It didn’t seem like they had been followed, but they were still on the lookout. 

Hank drank out of the cup and grimaced at the taste. It tasted like the coffee had been left in the pot overnight and reheated.

Connor stopped scanning the environment, redirecting his attention on Hank. “Is it not good?”

“It’s pretty bad, even for gas station coffee.” He drank some more. “But hey, it has caffeine in it.” When Connor kept watching, Hank offered him the cup. “Wanna try it?”

“I can’t taste, at least not the way humans can,” Connor said. “I can analyze substances with my tongue.” 

“So you can lick stuff and tell what’s in it?” Hank asked, weirded out by the possibilities. If Connor had been built to get the parts needed for the antivirus and to take them wherever, why would he need a feature like that? Why not put it in his hands? Whoever designed him had a sick sense of humor. 

“Essentially, yes,” Connor replied.

“Ok, can you check to see that this isn’t actually poison?” Hank held the cup up closer to Connor, willing him to take it. Connor did, took a sip, and handed it back, a corner of his mouth lifting up.

“It’s just coffee, Hank.”

He moved to take the cup back with an answering smile. “Thanks, I feel a bit better about drinking it now.” Their fingers touched and it was a bit of a shock. Hank was reminded of last night, about how feeling Connor’s nose brush his had made him jump back. What if he hadn’t? He found himself idly wondering what it would be like, kissing Connor. Would it feel different from kissing a human? It had been a while since he had last kissed anyone, but he was pretty sure he still remembered how it felt.

They were in the middle of an important mission, though. Starting something now would be a distraction, at least for Hank. He didn’t know if Connor was capable of getting distracted. 

Connor was saying something but Hank was more watching his mouth form the words than listening to him. Hank recognized the shape of his name, Connor seemed to be repeating it before his mouth turned into a thoughtful line. Hank’s brain caught up with him.

“What?” he asked, actually looking Connor in the eye for a change. 

“It wasn’t anything important,” Connor said. He didn’t look displeased with Hank not paying attention, so Hank just nodded and started drinking his coffee again. “Do you find my mouth interesting?” Connor asked, and Hank discovered that taking that drink had been a bad idea.

He coughed for a bit, trying to clear his airways. Then kept going so he wouldn’t have to answer the question.

“There’s no need to be embarrassed.” Connor seemed to pick up on that Hank wasn’t choking as much as he let on. “I like several of your physical attributes.”

Hank put the cup on the table carefully. It was almost empty, anyway. “You do, huh?” he said quietly enough that a human wouldn’t have heard him. It was more to get his brain in gear and less an actual question. “I don’t understand why, but it’s not really the kind of thing we should be focusing on right now,” he spoke up. “I mean, this whole antivirus thing is pretty important.”          

Connor nodded. “I agree.” 

“So let’s table this for now, and maybe revisit it after we’re done, if you still feel like you want to.” Hank wanted to. It had ambushed him out of nowhere, but he was man enough to admit when he had lost.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the penultimate chapter!

They drove. Music was on lower than Hank usually had it as they chatted. When the subject wasn’t feelings, conversation was easy. Hank had a fair few stories from his better crime fighting days and Connor had a lot of pertinent questions. Hank answered them the best he could. It felt nice to talk about, helped remind him that despite how tired he had been of the work by the end, the years hadn’t been wasted.

“I don’t have any life experiences you haven’t been present for that I haven’t already told you about,” Connor said, frowning.

“You’ll have time to make some,” Hank reassured him. He hoped the most dangerous part was over. They had a limited amount of bullets and he had no idea how defensible the place they were going to was. 

“I hope so, too. Before the revolution, I would have been deactivated after this,” he said, casually, like the thought didn’t make Hank feel cold. “But they can’t do that now.” 

“So you would’ve been awake for a couple days and then put away?” It seemed like a waste.

Connor nodded. “I would have either been stored or recycled. I suppose there’s also the possibility that I’d be reprogrammed for some other purpose.” 

“Well, you don’t need to worry about it.” Hank guessed that to a purely machine Connor, none of that would have mattered. Now, though, Hank knew that Connor experienced fear and uncertainty about his mission, even if he wasn’t free to make the decision to stop. He also seemed to feel something for Hank, but that was the thing Hank wasn’t thinking about. Mission first, then whatever there was between them. 

“I think it’ll be safe for me to go get repairs at an official CyberLife store.” There was still a hole in him. Hank didn’t know what other damage there was left, only that it didn’t seem to be bothering Connor as much as it had. At least he wasn’t bleeding. “I’d like my structural integrity back.”

“You’re gonna need that when you’re sitting on the couch watching TV and wrestling with Sumo.” Hank wasn’t thinking through what he was saying, or rather implying. It just came out, and he didn’t stop to think about it until Connor did. There was a moment of silence, only broken by the music. “I mean, uh,” Hank said. 

“I thought we weren’t even thinking about it before we’re done,” Connor said after it became apparent that Hank had nothing further to add.

“We’re not,” he said, despite how he was thinking about it. The thing about trying not to think about something was that it only made you think about it more.

“How is Sumo?” 

Relieved at being let off the hook, Hank told him about Jeffrey and how Sumo was in good, if inexperienced, hands. It would be pretty great to see his dog again after this.    

They turned to a smaller road. It was the width of one car, but it didn’t look used enough to have cars try to go in the opposite direction. It led to a concrete building. The building had one floor and small windows around eye level. Through the windows, they could see that the lights were on inside. A car was parked next to the building.

Hank parked and they got out. He followed Connor to the door, waiting a couple steps behind as the android knocked. Chloe opened the door, her eyes glancing between them enough that it was clear that she was talking to them both.

“I’m glad you made it,” she stepped inside. “Come in, please.”

On the inside, there were five consoles. One of them had a spot for an android to interface. With the blinking on-lights and the fluorescent overhead lamps, the place looked like a small office, if that office was also a bunker. There was a desk with a tablet on it and on the screen, a video feed of a gray wall. The shade looked familiar but there was no strange tech genius in front of it at the moment.

“Elijah has been keeping in touch,” Chloe explained when she noticed Hank looking.

“Great.” Somehow, he had thought that the thing saving them would be fancier. This place was spartan, at the end of a dirt road. The technology wasn’t up to date, as far as he knew, but then, this had been set up for a while now. But then again, maybe the mantle of the “thing” saving them belonged to Connor, and he was plenty fancy. 

It had been a couple days since his last drink and Hank was feeling the effects. He leaned against the desk while the androids started to sort out what to do next. 

“May I see?” Chloe asked, holding out her hand. Connor dug out the parts and gave them to her. They studied them together, Connor’s LED blinking and Hank assumed Chloe’s was, too, though he couldn’t see it from where he was. It took them a while of contemplating, examining the consoles before Connor wandered back over to Hank.

“I think we’ve figured out how it works,” Connor said, approaching. He stopped, looked at the door. He had started to look more at ease but now it was gone. “A car is coming.”

“There shouldn’t be,” Chloe informed them.

“Maybe they’re lost?” Hank suggested with optimism he didn’t feel. They didn’t need further complications, but he guessed it was too much to ask for things to go smoothly. They went to peer out a window, all lumped together to see.

Hank had parked like an asshole, so the car coming down the road couldn’t get close to the building. It stopped farther out and people stepped out. Hank counted eight.

“Shit,” Connor spat next to him. It took Hank by surprise and instead of taking immediate action, he stared. “We should hurry.” Connor turned away from the window, Chloe going with him. They got to work, and Hank took one more look at the approaching androids before moving the tablet and pushing the table against the door. 

From the tablet speakers, came Kamski’s voice, “What’s happening over there?” Hank ignored it, going over to Connor.

“You still have that gun, right?” he asked. Connor handed the weapon to him. There was banging on the door and the front wall. It sounded like one of them had picked up a log and was using it to try to break the door. It was sturdy enough to give them some time, the windows too small for anyone to fit through. The gun was a last resort if they got through before the antivirus was ready.

Hands struck the windows. The one where they had looked out from gave away, a fist with the skin peeled back punching through it. The hand grabbed at the air, as though trying to reach someone but everyone was too far in the room. The closest was Chloe, who took the tablet before backing away. She said something to the man on the screen, the sounds from outside drowning her words. Hank wasn’t interested in their conversation, more focused on keeping an eye at the door and watching as Connor made progress on his work. 

Connor finished on one of the other consoles and moved to the last one. He put his hand on the interface, skin peeling back. There was nothing else in the room to barricade the door with, so Hank moved back, joining Connor.

There was a small screen next to the interface. It had lines of code flashing on it that said nothing to Hank. The door was barely holding the attackers back as it started to come off its hinges.

“Tell me you’re almost done,” Hank said, eyeing the door with trepidation. 

“I’m not sure I can.” Connor frowned, the screen, while probably making more sense to him, not telling him what he wanted. “I might be able to do it with more time, but-”

“We don’t have time.” They had maybe a minute before the door gave and then whatever time Hank could give them with the bullets they had left. 

“We don’t,” Connor agreed, looking down at his hand, then up at Hank. “I know we’re not supposed to talk about it, but if we die here, I want you to know that those things you mentioned, playing with Sumo and watching TV with you, I want that. I want more time to discover how I feel about you and what that means.”

“I don’t think now’s the time-,” Hank stopped when Connor put his free hand on his arm, eyes pleading.

“All the data I’ve collected points to you feeling the same way, but you’re very tight lipped about it.”

Hank knew that Connor wanted some kind of a verbal confirmation that he was right, but Hank also knew that telling someone he had feelings for them wasn’t one of his strong suits. “Look, I’m no good at this stuff,” he said, knowing that if these were their last moments, he would regret not saying anything. 

Connor smiled a little. “I’ve gathered, but can you try?” 

Hank took his eyes off the door to give as much of his focus to Connor as he could under the circumstances. The banging on the door continued, and his heart hammered. It wasn’t just the danger, it was also the nerves. He had thought that he would have time to prepare, or that he wouldn’t have to use words at all, that Connor would somehow just know and do with that knowledge what he wished. 

He took a deep breath. “You saved me that first night,” Hank started. “And a big part of why I’m even here, on this mission, is because I wanted to protect you.” He huffed, smiling ruefully. “Even though that’s kinda dumb, since we’d only just met and you’re pretty good at protecting yourself. And I can’t promise that my problems will just go away, but for the first time in a long time, I’ve sort of been looking forward to the future because maybe you’d be there.” He glanced at his shoes, then back at Connor. “With me.” The android was close, meeting his look with wide eyes.

Connor tilted his head up enough for their lips to touch. Hank stayed very still. The door gave away with a crash as the androids from outside climbed over the table. Chloe said something but it was lost in the cacophony of both the room and Hank’s loud heartbeat. He pulled away when the screen flashed green, on time to get his gun up and see the androids collapse on the floor. 

The room went silent. 

Hank lowered the gun when the androids continued to not move. “Uh, what?”

Connor moved to take a look at them. He knelt on one knee and touched the closest one, his skin peeling back. “They’re just rebooting.” He stood back up, surveying the group on the floor.

“So, it worked?” Hank asked, going closer to Connor and the bodies, putting the gun away.

“It worked,” Connor said, in disbelief. He turned to Hank, looking open and hopeful in a way Hank hadn’t seen him before. “Mission successful.” 

Still taking it all in, Hank managed a, “That’s great.” It sounded a lot less enthusiastic than he should be feeling, but his brain was catching up. The last couple minutes had been eventful, and it looked like they weren’t going to die after all. Connor took his hand.

“Hey,” he said, standing close to Hank again. It was a lot more pleasant to focus on him than to the rest of the room.

“Hey,” Hank said back.

“Can we kiss more now?”

Hank laughed a bit, looking away so Connor’s imploring face wouldn’t sway his judgment. It was too late, so there, in the least romantic place ever, Hank placed his hand on Connor’s cheek and leaned in. He hadn’t had time to process it before, but Connor was a bit harder than an average person. It didn’t matter to him, more focused on how it was Connor and they had succeeded and still alive. Though, the small noise Connor made when he took the chance to run his tongue past his lip, killed him a little. 

The sound of someone doing the slow clap made them pull apart. Chloe was holding the tablet with the front of the screen facing them. Kamski spoke, “This is all very moving, but there’s still work to do.” 

Hank fought the urge to tell him to fuck off. He won, and said nothing. It turned out that while the antivirus had taken care of all the androids in the vicinity, it needed to be spread around. Kamski offered to take care of that, all they needed to do was get the androids that had attacked them home and clean up a little. The process went smoothly once the androids woke up, and either Connor or Chloe explained to them what had happened.

After, they had done what they could and said goodbye to Chloe, Connor followed Hank to his car. Hank sat on the driver’s seat and put the keys in the ignition, but he had to check that he was reading the situation right. “Do you uh, wanna come home with me?” he asked, stealing a glance at Connor. Connor looked somewhat surprised that Hank needed to ask.

“Of course. But I do need to get repairs done first.”

“Right, yeah.” He started the car, relieved. “Just tell me where you need to go.” 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter! I had fun writing this but I'm relieved that it's all done and posted. Thank you everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment, it means a lot. I also appreciate the kudos and bookmarks and such.

The CyberLife store wasn’t busy when they entered. A sales clerk was with them within seconds, smiling and asking what they were looking for. Connor told her that he had been shot, without elaborating, very matter of fact. She didn’t even blink, just guided them to the back. That was when Hank caught on that she was an android without the LED.

She stopped Hank in the doorway. “Sometimes humans are uncomfortable with seeing the repair process,” she explained, still polite but also keeping Hank from getting to the repair area. 

“It’s alright,” Connor said from the inside. “He’s already seen inside me.” 

She looked back at Connor, then at Hank, and let Hank through. She rolled out a chair, instructed Hank to sit, and got some tools. “Please remove any clothes in the way and sit on the table,” she said to Connor, who did as told. 

For some reason, it hadn’t occurred to Hank that Connor would need to take anything off. He wasn’t mentally or emotionally prepared, so to keep from staring like a creep, he distracted himself through conversation. “So, uh, do you work here of your own volition?” he asked the android opening Connor’s side and looking inside.

“Yes. I get paid a lot less than I should but not a lot of places hire androids,” she said. “I think it’s a publicity stunt but I like the work. I get to help others of my kind.” 

Hank didn’t know what she was doing with the tools but she seemed confident and Connor didn’t show any signs of discomfort. Connor looked at him and smiled a little. Hank smiled back, feeling somewhat out if place. The whole store was white and pristine, and even though there weren’t any androids on display anymore, there were still spare limbs and components.

“Run a diagnostic, please,” she said, and Connor blinked rapidly for a couple seconds.

“Diagnostic complete. My thirium levels are low,” Connor said.

“I thought as much,” she nodded, getting a bottle out of a cabinet. “Drink this.” She handed the bottle over. “I can patch up the panel but if you want a new one, you’ll have to custom order it. Would you like to place an order?” 

“Yes.”   

“Give me your specifications, please.” She gave Connor her hand, skin retreating. Connor took it, and a moment later she let go and took a step back. “Order placed. It’ll arrive at this location within the next five to seven business days.” 

“Thank you. I’ll come by to pick it up.”

Hank watched them interact. It sounded a bit strange to him, how they seemed to mix what sounded like preprogrammed sentences with more casual speak. He didn’t have enough experience to know if this was what happened when humans weren’t around or if it was just the customer service situation.

There was still the process of patching up, but after that, it was done. She smiled. “I’ll be at the front when you’re ready.” 

After they got left alone, Hank expected Connor to get his shirt back on and for them to leave. It didn’t look like Connor was in any hurry, sitting on the table, drinking his blood drink. Pretty.

“Are we gonna leave or what?” Hank asked. He studied the spare parts on the walls, sounding grumpier than he felt.

“Are we in a hurry?” Connor asked.

Hank looked back at him to see him take a sip, watch him swallow and lick his lip a bit. He was basically drinking his own blood, it shouldn’t be hot.

“Hank?”

It was taking him too long to answer. “No, not really, but you can’t tell me you want to stay here longer than we have to.” 

Connor tilted his head, calculating in a way that made Hank worried. He could probably see right through him, supercomputer brain working at speeds Hank’s meat brain couldn’t keep up with. “Are you unaware that you’re permitted to look at me, or is it the setting that’s making you uncomfortable?” Connor just straight up asked him, like that was allowed. 

“Did they forget to program you with some tact before letting you loose?” Hank recognized that the question might be insensitive, but acting annoyed was easier than admitting that he was embarrassed. 

“They programmed me with plenty, and I’d use it if I thought it would work,” Connor shot back. He didn’t look offended, sliding off the table. Hank was torn between rolling his chair back and rolling it to meet Connor as he approached, so he did neither. Once Connor was standing in front of him, he took Hank’s hand and placed it on his chest. Hank opened his mouth to say something but then he realized that he had nothing to say to a move like this. Connor was body warm and his skin just felt like skin, even though there wasn’t as much give as a human would have. 

“Uh, I don’t-,” Hank trailed off.

“You’re a smart man, I’m sure you can figure it out.”

Hank snorted, some of the tension draining away. “And you’re a little shit,” he said, with affection. 

“Perhaps. I’m still in the process of finding out what my personality is like.” 

“Hmm.” He moved his fingers across the skin, careful, searching out a mole and circling it. Connor’s chest rose and fell beneath his hand. “I am a bit uncomfortable here,” he admitted. “And I guess I don’t know where we stand.” They had kissed and there had been feelings, still were feelings, and Connor was coming home with him, with the explicit purpose of staying in his life. So maybe he was just a dumbass and the answer was obvious. 

“I like this,” Connor said, seemingly out of nowhere. Hank lifted his head to look up at him. “I like that you touch me and tell me how you feel, but we should relocate to your house.” 

Hank was all for leaving. “For more touching and feelings talk? Because I’m only ok at one those.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Connor said, serious in a way that Hank was learning meant that he wasn’t. He grinned a little, keeping Connor there by the hip a moment longer, and kissed where Connor’s rib cage would have ended if he had one.

“Oh,” the android sighed, giving a tiny shiver.

Interested in exploring that reaction further but unwilling to do it in the backroom of a CyberLife store, Hank pulled back, letting go. “Let’s go.”

“Yes.” He put on his clothes and drank the rest of the thirium. They went back into the store proper where Connor paid before they left. 

In the car, Hank brought up that they should go pick up Sumo. Fowler might have taken him voluntarily, but he wasn’t the biggest fan of dogs and was no doubt waiting to get rid of him. Hank parked by the road, turning to Connor.

“You should probably stay here,” he said. The mission had been successful, but he didn’t know if Fowler still wanted Connor detained. It was better he didn’t know that the android was with him right now. “I’ll be right back.” 

Ringing the doorbell was answered by excited barking. When Fowler got the door, Sumo was out and on Hank like they hadn’t seen in years. “Woah, hey I missed you, too, buddy.” While Hank pet his dog and tried to get him to settle down a little, Fowler stood there, arms crossed.

“I just need Sumo’s things and I’ll be out of your hair,” Hank said. “Also, mission accomplished, I guess.”

“So I heard,” Fowler said. “Good job.”

“Thanks.” 

Fowler studied him for a moment, craning his neck to see the car. He sighed and got a box of Sumo’s things out. “Here. Your pay will be in your account by the end of the week.”

“Sure, yeah, I could really use the money, now that I’m unemployed and all.” Hank took the box.

“And whose fault is that?”

“The world’s.”

Fowler shook his head. “Get out of my sight.”

Hank did, saluting his former boss the best he could with the box in his hands. Sumo followed him into the car and waited for Hank to get his blanket out of the trunk so he could lay down on the backseat. He was pretty happy to see Connor, too, but knew that he couldn’t climb to the front. 

They drove to Hank’s. By the time they got there, it was pouring rain. It soaked their shoulders on the way to the front door. Hank had a towel for Sumo next to the door for such an occasion but none for himself or Connor. Connor didn’t seem to mind, drying Sumo off before the dog ran off the inspect the house.   

Once Sumo had settled down, they were left standing by the door. Hank toed off his shoes and hung up his coat before gesturing for Connor, who also left his shoes by the door, to follow him to the bedroom. “Let’s get you in some dry clothes,” he said, clearing the doorway and going to his closet.

“Or at least get me out of the wet ones,” Connor commented. It would have passes for perfectly innocent if he hadn’t closed the door behind him, looking over at the bed and giving Hank a sidelong look. 

Hank glanced at the closet one last time, giving himself a moment. This was his life now, getting propositioned by someone way out of his league in his own bedroom. “You’re a fucking menace.” He closed the closet door and turned towards Connor. “Just, get over here.” Connor was in front of him in a couple of strides. Amused by the eagerness, Hank brushed aside the stray hair on Connor’s forehead. It fell back the next moment. 

Connor’s eyes flicked from his face to his hands as Hank pushed his suit jacket off. Next, he loosened the tie, closing the remaining distance between them. From up close, he saw Connor’s mouth fall open a little, and he couldn’t not kiss him. Slow, in case Connor didn’t know what he was doing and it felt like he didn’t, but was learning rapidly how to respond, pressing himself closer. Hank felt hands on his shoulders, then his hair, as he pulled the tie off, pausing on his way down to press a thumb on the spot on Connor’s chest. Connor moaned into his mouth.

Hank pulled back enough to speak. “What is this?” he asked, hand still on Connor’s sternum.

“My thirium pump regulator, there’s a good chance that if something happens to it, I shut down,” Connor explained, though he looked like he wasn’t that interested in talking. 

“This feels good though, right?” Hank checked, just to be extra sure.

“Yes, it feels good.”

Hank considered the spot for a while, fingers working in a slow circle that seemed to be doing things to Connor. “I kinda wanna get my mouth on it.” 

Connor pressed closer against him. “Please.” At the plea, he had no choice but to back himself to the bed, taking Connor with him. The android hesitated and sat next to Hank instead of sitting on him like he had hoped. “I think you should know that I don’t have any sexual components equipped,” Connor said. “If that changes your mind, I understand.” 

Hank had already made peace with the fact that being with Connor, in any capacity, was going to be weird on some level. Or if not outright weird, at least different than being with a human. “It might, depending on how you answer my next question.”

Connor shifted in place, attentive.

Hank turned to face him a little better. “Can you still get off?”

“Oh,” Connor frowned, thinking. “I think so, yes.” 

“In that case, it doesn’t. You might need to tell me what to do, though, this is all new to me.”

“It is for me as well, but I’ll do my best.”

Hank smiled at the determined look on Connor’s face. “Okay,” he said before going in for a kiss. His fingers fumbled on the buttons of Connor’s shirt, working it open.

Connor broke the kiss but didn’t go far. “If I’m getting naked, you should, too.”

“I’m not sure you want that.” He was way out of shape, nobody needed to see that.

“I am.” Connor waited for Hank to protest further, and when he didn’t, he unbuttoned Hank’s shirt a lot more efficiently than Hank ever could. There was still a T-shirt under the button up so it wasn’t like he was naked, but it didn’t help silence his insecurities. The way Connor was watching him lose a layer did.

Careful, like Hank might bolt at any sudden movement, Connor eased a hand inside the shirt, up towards Hank’s chest. It was weird, having someone act like this was his first time and he needed to be eased into it, when he was the one with more experience. He yanked the shirt off, unable to deal with being treated like a delicate flower. He was anything but. 

“There, happy?” Hank asked, more antagonistic than the situation required. 

“If you’re uncomfortable-”

Hank stopped him right there, “I’m not uncomfortable.” 

Connor took his hand away, concerned. “I’m sorry if I’ve made you upset, I was only trying to make sure I had your continued consent.”

“Well, you have it.”

Still more careful than he needed to be, Connor put his hand where it had been, feeling Hank’s chest hair. He leaned in to kiss Hank on the corner of his mouth. “I like the way you look and feel.” 

Hank sighed, relaxing into it more. “You don’t have to placate me, I’m being an idiot.” 

“You’re not, and I’m just giving you my honest opinion, which is that you’re very handsome.” 

He wasn’t blushing because he didn’t blush. “Come here, you.” He guided Connor into another more open kiss, laying them both down on their sides. Once there, Hank let his hand stray into the open shirt, to Connor’s side and back. There wasn’t a lot for him to grab; the skin had little give and body fat didn’t seem to be a thing for androids, or at least not for this one. It was still pretty sweet, to be allowed to touch. Connor whined a little when Hank left his mouth in favor of kissing down his neck and chest, to his whatever-he’d-called-it. Experimentally, Hank put his lips on it, a chaste kiss. When Connor pressed closer, he grew more bold, licking at it, scraping with his teeth. It was encouraging, to have Connor grasping at his head, panting and letting out tiny ‘ah’ sounds. His pants were getting more and more uncomfortable, so with the hand not on Connor’s back to keep him close, he unbuttoned his fly, getting his pants down enough to free his dick.

Despite being thoroughly distracted, Connor noticed that something had changed. He looked down at what Hank was up to, curious fingers following the arm to where Hank was touching himself. “Let me do that?”

“Uh, okay.” It meant that Hank needed to move up to where he was face to face with Connor again, who looked like he wanted some instructions. “Gimme your hand.” When he did, Hank licked a stripe from his palm to the tip of his middle finger. Connor stared at him with half-lidded eyes, lips parted, and feeling cheeky, he gave his finger a nip. He didn’t expect Connor to moan, not like that. “Jesus.” Hank let go of his hand and it headed down, and pushed Connor on his back. After a moment of fumbling, while Connor figured out how to touch Hank, and Hank getting a hand on Connor’s chest, they kind of just stared at each other. From where Hank was looking, it almost seemed like Connor was getting off on touching him, and that was, it was something.

“What do you, tell me what you need,” Hank panted. It was more than a bit embarrassing how good it felt, just having someone else’s hand on his dick, though it did contribute a lot that it was Connor.

“Kiss me, I need-,” he didn’t get to finish before Hank was on him, taking his mouth and swallowing his sounds. Suddenly, he didn’t feel skin beneath his hand anymore. His short fingernail found a seam and he traced it with it. Connor moaned and shook under him, not letting up his stroking. His mouth went lax, and Hank let up, worried. His LED flashed a couple times, going dark before lighting up again. He had stopped breathing at some point and when that resumed, he squeezed Hank a bit harder and that combined with the knowledge that he had made Connor come hard enough to nearly shut him down, pushed Hank off the edge.  

He fell on his side so he wouldn’t crush Connor. Maybe that wasn’t even a thing he could do, with his body weight, but it was better to be safe. Connor was lying on his back, looking up at the ceiling, breathing deep. After a moment, he brought the hand up to his face and licked. Hank made a choked off noise.

“Your-,” Connor started to say, but Hank stopped him with a hand on his mouth.

“I don’t want to know.” He got a tissue out of the box by the bed and wiped Connor’s hand clean.

“Alright.” Connor turned to his side to face Hank, just looking at him. Hank didn’t know what he saw that was so interesting, but he didn’t protest.

“So, um.” He didn’t have anything smart to say, brain still lazy with what they had done. “What’s next for you?” He was done thinking that Connor would just pack up and leave, but he had been keeping himself from looking too far into this, their potential future, and he was curious to hear if Connor had any thoughts on that.

Connor wiped some hair off Hank’s face, the corner of his mouth quirking up. “I think you promised me a sightseeing tour.” 

Hank smiled back. “Yeah, I think I did.”         


End file.
